You Earned It
by wolfenqueenyuri
Summary: Nolan discovers that the truth of his feelings for Emily slipped out in the most embarrassing of ways. Luckily she's quite forgiving of this. Nemily. Set sometime in the future. Can be considered AU. First time writing the pairing.


Author's Note: I've been a fan of Revenge for a few seasons, and of the Nemily pairing since I got into the show, but I never attempted writing them before. I hope I kept them both in character as it's never easy to find the perfect voice the first time out. My forte is fluff, so I intended to keep it sweet, a little silly, and simple. I'd love to work with this ship again, so if time and inspiration cooperate, I'm sure I'll write more cute pieces for these two. In the meantime: enjoy the fic!

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You Earned It

Nolan Ross woke to the smell of pancakes, bacon, and freshly brewed coffee, accompanied by the sound of decidedly female humming.

Tentatively, he opened his eyes, only to regret the action immediately as the world around him spun erratically.

Groaning loudly, the handsome blond grimaced as a wave of nausea gripped him. "That's it…I'm swearing off Jack Daniels."

"That's a wise idea," a familiar voice, tinged with amusement, remarked, causing Nolan to glance up and find Emily Thorne leaning over him, equipped with two aspirin and a glass of Alka-Seltzer. "Here. These will help."

"My _angel_," he gratefully accepted both.

She smiled and then returned to the kitchen, her blond waves bouncing lightly with each step. "How much do you remember about last night?"

"Well…" he looked down, his cheeks flushing at the realization that the woman he had a serious crush on had finally seen him naked, but not in a manner that he would have preferred. "I'm certain that I _had_ clothes on, at one point."

Laughing softly, Emily checked on the bacon she was cooking. "But you don't remember how you ended up naked in my living room?"

"Er…no," slowly, he got up, grabbing a blanket that was thrown over the edge of the couch and wrapping it around his waist for a semblance of modesty. "And I'm honestly afraid to ask."

She gave him an affectionate look when he shuffled into the kitchen, and poured him a cup of coffee. "It's not as bad as you think, I promise."

He sat at the edge of the counter, leaning forward as he took a sip of the bitter-yet-sweet concoction, moaning softly as he did. "Then I suppose I'll have to ask you to refresh my memory, Ems."

Between the sound he had just made, which she privately thought was rather sexy, and the fact that the way he was sitting caused her to admire the muscle of his arms and chest, it took Emily a moment to gather her senses. She licked at suddenly dry lips before clearing her throat. "Let's start with the basics: Louise dragged you to a party last night, you got recklessly drunk, and she dropped you off here at my place because apparently you were begging her to do so."

He swallowed another gulp of coffee, though nervously, as he could now recall the fact that he had spent a good portion of the evening with his friend blabbering on drunkenly about how much he was in love with Emily Thorne. "Okay…go on?"

Emily began to fix him a plate of pancakes and bacon as she continued. "I told her that I'd let you sleep it off here, and that's when things got a bit…interesting."

"Define _interesting_."

She turned to face him again, setting the plate in front of him. "Well…for one thing: you kissed me."

"I **what**?"

"Messily. It wasn't your finest hour, Ross."

"Oh…oh God…" he buried his head in his arms. "Please tell me I didn't try to force you into anything, Ems, I'd never forgive myself."

She ruffled his hair tenderly. "Other than the kiss…and the strip tease, you were a complete gentleman."

At that, Nolan's head shot up, his blue eyes wide as saucers and his expression entirely terrified. "I did a strip tease?"

"It probably would have been sexy if you hadn't fallen over while taking your pants off."

"Why didn't you try to stop me?!"

"Because aside from that, you were _adorable_…and I liked what I saw," she reached out and touched his cheek, her fingers stroking lightly at his skin.

A pleasant shiver eased up Nolan's spine at the contact, his breath catching in his throat. "Ems…"

"Why didn't you just _tell_ me, Nolan?" she continued in her gentle ministrations, this time smoothing his hair back so that it no longer fell into his bright-colored gaze.

"Because your friendship means too much to me," he confessed. "And I didn't want to ruin all that we've built together just because I'm in love with you. I figured you'd never return my feelings and—

She cut him off by placing her fingers over his mouth. "You figured wrong, idiot."

He blinked in disbelief.

Smiling warmly, Emily leaned forward across the counter, letting her fingers slide from his lips in order to capture them with hers.

The kiss was soft and inviting and oh-so-perfect, so much so that Nolan half-believed he was dreaming until Emily pulled back to gauge his reaction.

He stared at her for a long moment before managing: "I kind of like being wrong."

Chuckling, she drew him close for another kiss, and this time, he wasted little time in deepening the embrace.

After all: considering everything they had been through, they'd earned a rare moment of perfection.

The End


End file.
